In today's gaming environment, there is a constant drive to develop new gaming features or gaming techniques to enhance participation, aid in marketing, and further engage consumers. Many such efforts to create new games require players to learn new rules or embrace new, unfamiliar playing experiences. New games may be somewhat successful with established gaming players, but have limited success in drawing in new populations of gamers. Games which draw new gaming players typically include gaming elements that are easily understandable, or commonly understood, and well accepted and prized in common culture. Attempting to draw in new gaming players utilizing new, unknown games, experiences limited success at best and shifts previously engaged gaming players from already established games. Further, traditional distribution and play of lottery games is not well suited to aiding marketing of additional products and services. Traditional lottery games are typically limited to a single level of non-interactive game play with little ability to aid in marketing additional products and services or further interact with the consumer.
Attempts have been made to broaden lottery gaming, but with limited success. These attempts included the “UNO” lottery game in the state of Nebraska and the Iowa Touchplay system. The “UNO” lottery game in the state of Nebraska is a scratch-off ticket format game roughly based on the UNO® card game. The “UNO” lottery game fails because few people past the age of adolescence remember the rules of the UNO® card game or have a great appreciation for the game. Further, the “UNO” lottery game does not offer the full experience of the UNO® card game, offering merely a “one time” gaming experience. There is little popular appeal to the “UNO” lottery game and it requires too much mental engagement to learn the new set of rules for play. The Iowa Touchplay system presented a slot machine type of play whereby the source of the slot outcome was derived from virtual scratch-off playing tickets. The Touchplay system encountered serious legislative difficulties and was consequently shut down due to the perception that the prevalence of unrestricted casino gambling throughout the state was causing social harm, in a gaming context indistinguishable in betting and play from casino slot machines. Further, these two systems offered little in the way of facilitating further engagement with the consumer or aiding the marketing of additional products and services.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a lottery gaming system which addresses the above-referenced problems and limitations.